At least six people have been killed and others injured after a bus caught fire in a town in western Switzerland, according to police.#
The incident took place at around 18:25 local time (19:25 GMT) on Tuesday in the centre of Kerzers – known in French as Chiètres – in Fribourg canton, about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Bern.
At least three people were taken to hospital, police said, and there were reports that a rescuer was also hurt.
The cause of the fire is not yet known but an investigation is under way into whether it was deliberately started.
There have been reports that a person doused themselves in gasoline but the authorities said they could not immediately confirm this.
Video posted by local media shows a bus in flames and a local resident described seeing a thick column of smoke.
The bus involved had reportedly travelled from the Düdingen municipality, 17km south of Kerzers.
In a post on X, Swiss President Guy Parmelin said that it “shocks and saddens me that people have lost their lives in a serious fire in Switzerland”.
Forty-one people were killed in a deadly fire that broke out in a Swiss ski resort on New Year’s Eve.
By BBC News
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